President Joe Biden confused guests at an Arizona campaign event Tuesday night when he wandered off stage to join a baby in the crowd and pull faces with his young fan.
The octogenarian spied the youngster while his campaign manager introduced him at a Mexican diner in Phoenix, the New York Post reports. The president then made his unprompted visit.
“Well folks, I have to tell you straight up… I like you all, but I couldn’t resist that baby,” he proudly regaled the audience, which appeared to be only a few dozen people.
Biden’s campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez had been in front of the crowd for around a minute before Biden became distracted by the child and walked off, the outlet’s report details.
President Joe Biden walks into the crowd at a campaign event at El Portal restaurant Tuesday, March 19, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
He pulled a face at the baby and reportedly whispered “How old?” drawing laughs from onlookers as Rodriguez continued her remarks.
The president chatted with the child and mother while repeatedly pulling faces at the crowd and trying to engage the baby with laughter.
The event in the battleground state was meant to help Biden’s popularity with Hispanic voters, who supported him before his 2020 election win.
Biden pauses to engage with a baby at El Portal restaurant Tuesday, March 19, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Biden, who has seven grandchildren – though he rarely acknowledges the existence of first son Hunter Biden’s out-of-wedlock child with former stripper Lunden Roberts – has previously declared “I like kids better than people.”
Just last year the president appeared to nibble at the shoulder of a startled little girl during his departure from Helsinki.
The little girl — who appeared frightened during the experience — later turned her head when Biden, who turned 81 last November, tried to give her a peck on the head.
Footage from the incident quickly made the rounds on social media, where several users blasted the president for his peculiar conduct.
Responding to the footage in a tweet, Donald Trump Jr. wrote, “Biden should be in a nursing home, not leading the free world.”